The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Internal combustion engines combust an air/fuel (A/F) mixture within cylinders to drive pistons that rotatably turn a crankshaft generating drive torque. The drive torque may be transferred to a driveline (e.g., wheels) of a vehicle via a transmission. For example, an automatic transmission may be coupled to the crankshaft by a fluid coupling such as a torque converter. The transmission may include a plurality of gear ratios that multiply the drive torque generated at the crankshaft. The transmission may also operate in a plurality of modes (e.g., park, reverse, neutral, drive, low, etc.), that are controlled via input from a driver of the vehicle.
A shifter may translate the input from the driver of the vehicle to a requested mode of operation for the transmission. For example, the shifter may be located in a cabin of the vehicle near a center console. In “shift-by-wire” systems (also known as electronic transmission range selection, or ETRS systems), the shifter is not physically connected to the transmission. In other words, a controller may determine a position of the shifter (e.g., a position of a shift lever) and electronically control the transmission accordingly.